Shadows
by Amethyst Dragon
Summary: MirSan Children have been mysteriously disappearing from a village and the Inuyasha-gumi go to help. But why does Sango have such a bad feeling about this? What is Naraku’s role in it all?
1. Premonitions

A/N: This is not the original version I posted, oh, a year and a half ago. I decided to finally do the second chapter but I also tweaked a few minor things in this chapter too.

This is a sequel to Serendipity but you can easily read it by itself. Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story when I last posted it forever ago, the reviews mean so much to me!

Enjoy!

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR MANGA CHAPTER 292

Disclaimer: The great Rumiko Takahashi owns Inuyasha. I am merely an obsessive fangirl.sigh

The rain was coming in sheets, pounding mercilessly on its victims below. Sango frantically tried to move her wet bangs out of her eyes but to no avail, and hair was starting to fall out of her high ponytail as well. She was trying to stop herself from shaking; the rain was cold, so cold... but she needed to remain on guard, her hiraikotsu held above her head and ready to kill.

He's here... I can feel him.... I can feel the evil...

She flinched slightly as a streak of lightning came a little too close for comfort, and the roaring thunder shook the earth beneath her feet. Sango felt helpless standing there in the dark, open field, at the mercy of nature and any sort of demon that happened to pass her way. She couldn't see anything, she could hardly see her hand held in front of her face, still wiping hair away from her eyes. She had lost Miroku and Kirara back in the forest and silently prayed that they were safe right now.

Another streak of light and roar of thunder, and Sango was growing more scared by the second.

I can't just keep waiting here for Naraku to come and get me... I need to find Miroku... if Naraku hasn't come here yet, then he's surely busy elsewhere?

A wave of absolute terror swept through her very quickly and she started to panic.

If he hasn't showed up yet, that means... he's found Miroku!

Sango whirled around, hiraikotsu still raised, and started running as fast as her tired legs could carry her towards the forest where she lost them. She didn't bother with her hair anymore, she decided that she wouldn't be able to see anyway. Right when she got towards the first few trees, however, she stopped.

Wait... what if this is a trap?

Her mind raced through all the possibilities of the situation so fast that it became one huge blur, and Sango couldn't think. She was panicking.

Try and calm down, Sango... you need to concentrate....

Flustered, she raised her hand to her forehead and narrowed her eyes in an attempt to think. She couldn't possibly do it; everything around her was so loud, so fast... her mind kept racing and she was getting nowhere. She hated this; she hated being so vulnerable and weak. So couldn't think, so she did what she could... she ran.

I don't care if this is a trap... I need to find him...

Another roar of thunder and the sound of a tree falling behind her. The wind was picking up greatly and branches were clawing at her hair, scratching her face. Sango was almost completely oblivious to all of this, however; her thoughts were elsewhere.

Not paying very much attention to where she was running, Sango tripped over a tree root and her face hit the wet, muddy earth. She groaned and wiped some mud out of her eyes and off her face while quickly jumping back up with all of the strength she could muster. She could feel warm blood trailing down her cheek, mixing with the freezing rain that continued to pour. She ignored this and continued to run.

Where are you, Miroku?

Another flash of lightning and Sango saw something fly past her head making a familiar buzzing noise.

Naraku's insects? He must be nearby....

Sure enough, she heard Naraku's voice in the distance to her right. There was no mistaking that cruel, cold, malicious voice... it could only belong to him.

Sango ran in the direction of the voice and noticed there was a small amount of light.

Kirara! That must be her!

She then noticed the figure that Naraku was talking to... it was hard to tell, but..

he was holding a staff.... Miroku!

"Prepare to die, Naraku."

"Oh, but I'm afraid you're the one to die tonight, monk. You can surrender now and I will try and make your death less painful."

There wasn't much light but Sango could make out Naraku's lips twisting into a wicked smile. A streak of lightning struck behind him and the thunder roared like Sango's anger. She gripped her hiraikotsu even tighter in rage and ran out into the clearing where this was taking place.

"No, Naraku, you're the one who is going to die," she spoke, with the anger very evident in her voice.

Miroku and Naraku turned their heads to face Sango. Naraku smiled maliciously and Sango was trying to read Miroku's expression. It was a mixture of relief, but at the same time she could tell he was afraid. He was afraid for her, and afraid for him. There was no Inuyasha or Kagome to help them; they were going to have to do this on their own.

Naraku smiled again. It made Sango sick. "Very well, then. I shall have to kill you both."

He then jumped high into the air, and Sango threw her hiraikotsu straight at him.

He dodged it very easily, and fell to the ground.

"You underestimate me, Sango. I thought you would have known better." He smiled evilly and looked over at Miroku.

The next few seconds played horribly fast yet very slow; Sango saw it all, every agonizing bit... Naraku unsheathed a sword, swung it at Miroku who jumped to the left to dodge it, Naraku swung again, Miroku parried it, Sango swung her hiraikotsu but she was too late... great tentacles that resembled tree roots shot from his stomach, and pierced right through Miroku's chest as he cried out in surprise and pain.

Sango fell to her knees in anguish, hitting the ground the same time as Miroku's lifeless body as if she was dying right along with him. The thunder stopped, the noise of the rain lessened, and the only sound that was heard was Sango's anguished scream echoing through the forest.

2 DAYS EARLIER

The Inuyasha-gumi was once again walking down a long road (in their usual formation), still on the hunt for the jewel shards. It was a beautiful day out, and Sango looked up at the sky and smiled, letting the rays of sun dance across her face. The sky was pure blue, not a cloud in sight.... the weather seemed to have a positive affect on her. Miroku noticed this, and stared at Sango for quite some time without her noticing. Everyone in the group seemed to be a little more cheerful; they had retrieved a jewel shard from a large spider demon just the day before and it had lifted their spirits as they hadn't found one for quite some time. Even Inuyasha wasn't in his usual grumpy state; he didn't get angry at all when Shippou was teasing him earlier or when Kagome told him he desperately needed a bath.

Sango caught Miroku's gaze and she blushed. They were officially a "couple" as Kagome called it and had been for quite some time. Sango was finally getting used to not calling Miroku houshi-sama; in fact, she quite liked it when she said his name.

Sango noticed Miroku's hand wandering slowly towards her out of the corner of her eye and for a moment she thought she was about to be groped so she used her hiraikotsu as a shield. To her surprise, his hand stopped at hers and he took it gently in his. She smiled at him, blushing slightly, and he shot her a cute grin. It's not like they had never held hands before; they had actually done it quite frequently on those long road walks. It's just that Sango was still working on getting out of the whole grope-slap routine and it was taking her longer than she had hoped.

There weren't many more jewel shards to collect that she knew of, and she could feel that their journey was coming closer to its end. They were going to battle Naraku soon enough, and Miroku would be free of his curse! They had both talked about what they were going to do afterwards on two separate occasions; Miroku had expressed his desire to settle down in a small village somewhere, and Sango had agreed. What a wonderful life they were going to have together! Sango didn't know what the others had planned on doing; all she knew was that she would be happy as long as she was with Miroku.

Her thoughts were broken by a woman down the path yelling something frantically; she seemed to be in a state of panic.

"Ayame! Ayame! Ayame, where are you? Somebody help, please! AYAME!"

"Calm down... what's your problem?" Inuyasha said irritably. Kagome shot him a nasty look.

"My daughter is g-gone! I woke up this morning, and she, s-she was just gone! My Ayame is gone!"

"You mean.. she just vanished?" Miroku inquired.

"Yes, children have been disappearing from my village for weeks now," a couple of tears streaked down the woman's face, "my son Kenji disappeared just four nights ago as well. My husband has even guarded their room, but somehow they still managed to perish!" She was on the verge of crying.

"That is horrible! I can assure you that my companions and I will do everything in our power to make sure this does not continue. Don't worry, we will find your children and help you in any way we can." Miroku gave her a reassuring smile.

"Oh, thank you, kind sir!" The woman practically leaped onto Miroku and hugged him. Sango gave Miroku a dirty look and made a growling noise.

"It is our pleasure to help those in need." Miroku gave her another smile which didn't help Sango feel any better. She couldn't figure out why she was getting so angry; didn't he propose to her? Plus, the woman had a husband. Even if he hadn't proposed to her, he still wouldn't go THAT low. At least, as far as Sango knew he wouldn't...

"Come, I will lead you to my village!" The woman finally released her grip on Miroku and the group started walking again, returning to their usual positions.

"Do you think a demon is responsible for this, Sango?" Miroku asked, glancing in her direction.

"Yes... but it must be a very powerful one. One that has the ability to become invisible, perhaps."

"I bet Naraku is behind it."

"What would he want with children, though? What could he gain from this?"

"I don't know. That's what scares me... we don't know what his intentions are so we don't know what to watch out for."

They both remained silent the rest of the way to the woman's village; Sango could tell Miroku was in deep thought. For some reason, she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach... and a little voice in her head that was telling her to go back, to not get involved. She ignored it, however. Nothing's going to happen, she kept thinking to herself.

Everything's going to be fine...


	2. The Village

A/N: Wow. A year and an half before an update. That has to be a fanfiction record. I'm not THAT bad of a procrastinator, really. I guess I just kind of drifted away from fanfiction writing for a while and explored new interests. I promise I won't do that again, though. At least not for a while. :) Thank you for everyone that has reviewed any of my fics in the past. I am not worthy. bows

Disclaimer: Over a year later and I still haven't managed to conquer the franchise. sigh

It took only a few minutes before we reached the small village. There was nothing really out of the ordinary about it, except for the people. It seemed like they were deathly afraid of us, and they would glance suspiciously from the doors of their homes as we passed by. We were used to the weird looks we got because of Inuyasha, but this was different. I guess I could understand, though, given what was going on.

An elderly man approached the woman who was leading our group. His eyes passed from one of us to the next, in silence, as if he could discover our true intentions just by looking at us. After he was done, he turned back to the woman.

"Who are these people, Natsuko?" His voice was demanding.

The woman just smiled. "They are going to help us, father. They are going to find our children!"

The man just stared, dumbfounded. I thought these people would be happy that someone would want to help them, but these people seemed like they did not want us.

Miroku broke the silence. "We have some suspicions, sir, about who might be behind this. We only wish to help."

Inuyasha coughed, and muttered something under his breath. I didn't catch it, but Kagome must have because she shot him a dirty look.

This did not go over well with the man, because he suddenly became very angry and thought that the "dog demon thing" was insulting him and a fierce argument ensued between him and Inuyasha.

I glanced at Miroku, and he gave me a little smile. This was going to be fun.

After much apologizing from Kagome and some creative persuasion from Miroku, we were allowed a place to stay the night. Inuyasha was still in a bad mood, hunched over in a corner. He kept "feh"-ing and muttering. He would have made us leave by now if it wasn't for Kagome's insistence that this must be tied to Naraku, that she kept sensing something. This didn't make Inuyasha any less grumpy, however.

Natsuko was the only person in the village that would actually talk to us. She was very kind; she brought us food, and she checked in on us a few times to make sure we didn't need anything.

The night was starting to approach, and all of us were pretty tired, even if we didn't show it. I was sitting next to Miroku, with Shippou beginning to slumber in my lap. I ruffled his hair, and Miroku smiled at me.

"You would make a great mother, Sango." He said it quietly so no one else would hear.

I blushed so intensely I thought my face was on fire. This just made him laugh.

"Someday, Sango, you'll see." Miroku was about to say something else when Natsuko entered the room.

"Does anybody need anything? I could get you some blankets, if you are cold."

Kagome smiled. "We are completely fine, Natsuko. Thank you. You don't need to be so kind to us, you know."

"Oh, it's just... I'm sorry for the way the village has been acting. They really are grateful for your help, it's just.... we've been a little wary of strangers, as you can understand."

"We understand completely," Miroku smiled reassuringly at her, "and we thank you for your help. Please rest, and tomorrow we will begin to look for your children."

Natsuko burst into tears. "Oh, thank you, houshi-sama! I can never repay your kindness!" She practically flung herself into his arms. Miroku looked a little stunned, but he attempted to comfort her nonetheless. I felt the heat begin to rise in my body.

Of course I wasn't jealous.

I mean, _she_ leapt into him, just like she did on the road earlier. It's not his fault. He's just trying to be nice and make her feel better.

Maybe it was just the way he was rubbing circles into her back, and speaking in a calming, smooth voice, the type that makes you feel so warm and peaceful that everything just seems to float away. The voice that I thought was just for me.

Who am I kidding? This has happened plenty of times before. I've seen him do this. It had not happened in a while, but I had still seen him do it before.

It still hurt, though.

My face was turned away from them and I couldn't look back until I heard Natsuko move away from Miroku. She uttered a few more thanks, left the room, and it was silent.

Inuyasha "feh"-ed again and Kagome decided it was a good time to settle in for the night. My face was turned away from all of them. I didn't want him to see the tears that were stinging at my eyes.

I heard him walk towards me, and he placed a hand softly on my shoulder. "Sango," he whispered gently. "What's wrong?"

I didn't know what to do. Keeping my face turned away from him, I placed Shippou down next to Kagome, and left the room to go outside. I heard him follow me, and I cursed quietly.

"Sango... you're angry at me. I can tell."

I sighed. "It's fine. It's not your fault that the women throw themselves on you."

"I'm sorry, Sango. What did you want me to do? Just push her off me?"

I turned around. "Maybe."

"Sango, you can't be serious."

"Maybe I am."

"Well maybe you're crazy."

"Maybe I just don't want other women crawling all over my future husband," I sighed, but blushed a little bit at what I had said. "Is that so crazy?"

"No." Miroku smiled. One of those sweet, gentle smiles that I love so much and make you want to melt into a little puddle of warmth. I can't stay mad at him. No, Sango, no, don't give in! NO! You're melting! MELTING!!! Don't give in! You're smiling back! NOOO!!!!!!

Damn.

He walked towards me, sensing that I was a little calmer now, and took me in a warm embrace.

"You know that you're the only woman I love, Sango. You shouldn't be jealous." He kissed my cheek gently.

"Jealous? I wasn't jealous!" I blushed madly, but calmed a little when I warmed up to his hug. His hugs were the same as his smiles.

He lets go of me and sits down on the ground, motioning for me to come sit in his lap. I do so, and snuggle up to him as his arms wrap around my waist.

"The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?" He kisses my neck, and looks up to the sky.

"Yes." I close my eyes, blissful. There is nothing like being held to make you feel at peace... like nothing bad could ever happen to you as long as you stay wrapped up in their arms.

I wish I could have stayed like that forever.

The castle walls were dark and moldy, hardly visible underneath all the shadows that seemed to encompass everything. It was silent, except for the buzzing of a fly.

A hand shot across to the wall to smack the poor creature where it had landed. The room was silent again, just the way Naraku liked it. Deathly silent. Not even the children in the nearby room were making a peep, unlike when they first arrived. Kagura had fixed that, however. Now all was still.

He glided across the room, and sat on a small cushion on the floor. He closed his eyes for a moment, almost as if in some form of meditation.

"Kagura." His deep voice cut across the chilly air like a knife.

"Yes, Naraku." She approached him slowly, but could not see him in the shadows.

"Is it done?"

"Yes." Her voice was quiet, unwavering.

"Good. Send the message."

"Yes, Naraku." She disappeared as quickly as she had come. Naraku smirked in a twisted sort of way.

The game was about to begin.

To be honest, I think this could have turned out better. I'm probably OOC because I drifted away from the series for a while. I'm still regaining touch with my inner Inuyasha, so hopefully it will go better. And yes, I know a certain thing in this fic is a little outdated in regards to recent manga events, but I don't care. This takes place before that, I guess.

And I promise the next update will be sooner than the last :)


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